Queen Caroline
by pony-girl298
Summary: Queen Caroline Chant hates being queen and longs for a normal life. Then Gwendolyn from Series 1 comes to her with a chance to live the normal life she's always wanted...in another world at Hogwarts. Charmed Life/ Harry Potter. AU from both worlds
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Caroline pulled herself up onto the top of the wall and couched low. The cold October air blew through her coat. She shut her eyes and thought about summer. She felt her body warm up a little and she opened her eyes again. Caroline hitched up her knapsack and rearranged her pants. It was so strange to be wearing men's clothing but she knew that a dress would complicate things even more. Malcolm, the stable boy who was also her best friend, had given her some of his clothes. She said a silent prayer that she wasn't being stupid in telling him what she was planning.

But honestly, she couldn't have said no to him. He looked so afraid and concerned for her that it hurt. The memory of his face made her falter for just a moment when she went over her plan again: Get off of the grounds, cut her hair, get on a boat to the continent and disappear.

Caroline stayed still on the wall for a moment and listened hard. She could hear a few of the guards chatting a little ways away.

Carefully, she swung her legs over the other side of the wall and lowered herself down slowly. Her bag felt heavy because of the sword, but had to bring it. Her feet searched for the missing brick hole that she knew was there. The toe of her boot caught the hole and she slipped down the wall and landed with a thump on the ground.

BANG! A floodlight came on and she froze. People were everywhere, guards surrounded her. She fell to the ground. Her hat came off and her golden blond hair fell out, cascading down her shoulders in that annoyingly recognizable way. Mackenzie, the Captain of the Guard, came out of the shadows and stood over her. Another guard followed dragging poor Malcolm by the ear. He mouthed "Sorry, Carrie" but that didn't make her feel any better.

"Lock Her Majesty in her room," he said, his North Gower way of speaking made him roll his R's and drop double T's. "Try not to let the Li'le Queen overpower you again, gentlemen." Strong hands came and pulled her to her feet. She stood in front of Mackenzie and glared daggers at him.

"Let go of Malcolm," Caroline said to the guards. They glanced at Mackenzie, who nodded once. They released his ear and he fell to the ground. Caroline tried to run to him, but there were guards holding her.

"Perhaps next time, Lass," Mackenzie smiled evilly. She spat in his eye and the smile disappeared. She smirked as he wiped his face.

"If it were not a crime, I'd strike you."

Caroline drew herself up to her full 5 feet, 6 inches and glared him down. "Touch me and your life is forfeit," her voice echoed with the voices of former rulers of Gower. It was the power bestowed upon her by her ancestors.

The guards holding her jumped away. Their hands stung where they had held her. Mackenzie glared at her as his legs buckled and he kneeled at her feet.

"Yer Majesty," he said through gritted teeth. He hated when she invoked her magic but there was nothing he could do. She stared down her nose at him and stomped off, back to her prison, the Royal Palace.

* ~ * ~ *

She marched into her room and stood in the middle of the floor. As soon as she heard the door click shut she threw her bag and screamed. She screamed in frustration at another foiled escape attempt, at Mackenzie and at the stupid laws that let them keep her captive in her own home.

After what felt like forever, she was out of energy. She lay on the floor of her room and stared at the ceiling. It was blue with white clouds painted on it. Before she was born her parents had commissioned the best artists in the kingdom to design the room. But now they were dead and she was the Queen of Gower at the age of fifteen.

She mustered up some energy and stood up. Malcolm's clothes were covered in dirt and the pants were ripped at the knee. She changed into her nightdress. She shut her closet quickly. It hurt her to see the thousands of dresses gathering dust in there.

For public occasions, she wasn't allowed to wear the same dress more than once. She knew that any other teenager would kill to be in her position, but not Caroline. She just wanted to be normal. She wanted to climb trees and run like a wild thing through the streets and not care who saw. But most of all, she wanted to not be Queen anymore. But she had no choice.

Caroline's parents had died when she was 10. They were assassinated while they were on a hunting trip. Caroline was supposed to die too, but it was her birthday, so they had let her stay home and play with Malcolm. But all that stopped when the news came that her parents were dead. No more frivolous playing and no more open friendliness with the servants. The Prime Minister tracked her down she was sworn in as the new sovereign ruler of Gower the following week. If she had known what she knew now, she would never have signed that piece of paper where she pledged to rule until she died.

What was the point of having magic if it wasn't powerful enough to get her out of this place? All she could do was what she had done to Mackenzie and the guards.

Caroline sat at her vanity and brushed the knots out of her hair. Her hair was golden blond and fell in curls down to her shoulders. It was the distinctive hair of the rulers of Gower. It was annoying at times when she wanted to be incognito, but she usually loved it.

Caroline knew that the Ladies would come first thing in the morning and fuss over her. They were stupid women, all of them. They were the wives or mistresses of cabinet ministers who wanted to pretend to be involved in politics. All they did was gossip and treat Caroline like a doll that they could dress up. She wanted to minimize the amount of time that she had to spend with them, so she cleaned herself up as best she could.

Suddenly, there was a ripping sound from behind her. She whirled around and saw a person wearing a hooded cloak climbing out of a crack in the wall that wasn't there a second ago. The person pushed back the hood and turned and Caroline screamed.

It was a girl, and she looked just like Caroline.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

She thought she was dreaming, or hallucinating. There she was, with the same green eyes, the same high cheekbones and the same curly, golden blond hair.

"Caroline?" the girl said. Caroline stared at her in shock. She had her voice. She knew her name. How did she know her name when Caroline didn't know who she was?

"Queen Caroline Chant of Gower? Am I in Series 1?"

"Um, I'm Queen Caroline," she stammered. "Who are you?"

"Oh thank goodness." The girl took off her cloak and Caroline saw she was wearing a lovely green velvet dress that looked almost as expensive as one of hers. "My name is Gwendolyn Chant. I'm from Series 12 and I have a proposition for you."

"Proposition?" Caroline echoed. Her mind was whirring. Series 1 and 12? What was she talking about? Gwendolyn stared at her for a moment before gasping.

"You don't know do you?" she said. Caroline shook her head. "Oh dear, well, I'll have to explain quickly, this spell only lasts an hour. Basically there are infinite worlds in existence and within each world there are twelve sub-worlds or series as we call them."

"We, who's we?"

"The others in my world. Please," Gwendolyn gave her a pleading look and she stopped talking. "I would normally give you a full rundown, but I have no time. What you need to know is that there is one of us in each of the other series in our world. We twelve are one series because of this."

"Wait! Are there versions of everyone in all the other, um, series?" Caroline asked.

Gwendolyn nodded. "Mostly. There are exceptions, but they are not important. What is important is my proposition. I want to shift all the versions of us over by one series."

"WHAT?" she exploded. "You want to switch me to another world?"

"Not another world, just another series within this world. The language is the same, so is the culture to a certain extent. I have done a lot of research into each of the other 10 and you and I think we will all benefit from this."

"Research?" she demanded. "You've been watching me?"

"Through the mirror in your vanity," she said. "Each of us in all twelve series has a vanity exactly like that. I charmed mine to be able to see out in the other series when I want it to. Before you get angry, just listen." She held up a hand to stop her from interrupting again.

"You are a Queen, and you hate it. I am nobody in my series. I would love to be Queen. I will take your place and you will go to the next series over. Danielle is at a boarding school and she hates it there. She has no friends, the work is too hard for her and all together she is miserable. You can take her place. You can be a normal teenager at school."

"Normal," Caroline whispered, not quite believing it. "No more Queen Caroline, or Your Majesty or stupid diplomatic functions or stupid people pretending to care about my opinion." she grinned.

"Exactly, so what do you think?" Gwendolyn asked. "I've already talked to the other ten girls and they all agree."

"What? Why am I last?" Caroline demanded. She hated being out of the loop almost more than she hated being Queen.

"I did this in order of hardest to convince to easiest. I knew you would like this idea," she said. "So do we have a deal?" She held out her hand. Caroline stared at it for a moment.

Leave Gower, forever? Could she do that? She had no real friends, no peers, just subjects and servants, or people who bossed her around, like the Prime Minister and Mackenzie. But there was Malcolm. Could she leave him? He'd understand. She had been planning to leave him behind anyway.

Caroline grasped Gwendolyn's hand. "Deal," she said. Gwendolyn smiled and shook her hand.

"Good," she smiled at her. "Now, the girl you'll be replacing, Danielle, will leave everything you'll need at the boarding school. Don't bring clothes or anything, just pictures or whatever you think won't be noticed. When you get there, you will be Danielle Chant a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You're an orphan who goes to boarding school during the year and this Camp-like place in summer with other boarding school orphans."

"Are we all orphans?" Caroline asked.

"Yes." Gwendolyn said.

Caroline looked sadly at Gwendolyn. "I'm sorry."

"Why?" Gwendolyn was playing with the tassels on the bed. She seemed not to care that her parents died. Caroline's heart skipped a beat every time she thought about it too hard.

Caroline heard a gasp and looked up. Gwendolyn had opened the closet and was staring at the dresses.

"I'm not allowed to wear the same thing twice," Caroline explained. Gwendolyn turned around.

"Now you will be," she said. Caroline grinned again. She liked this plan more and more.

"Um, you said witchcraft and wizardry. Is Danielle a witch?"

"Yes," Gwendolyn said. "You're a witch too so you'll be fine."

"I'm a weak witch, though. What about-"

"Do you want to do this or not? I need to go, this spell is about to run out," Gwendolyn said. "I'm going to do this through the vanities. We all have one, so you need to be sitting at yours in one hour holding whatever you want to bring with you."

"One hour, got it," she said. She decided to figure out the witch thing later.

"Goodbye then, Caroline." She turned and ran back through the crack in the wall. It sealed behind her. Caroline walked over and ran her hand over the smooth wall.

"How does she do that?" she whispered.

But she was too excited to think about that too much. In one hour, she would stop being Her Majesty Queen Caroline of Gower and just be Caroline Chant.

Caroline grabbed her travelling bag and pulled out the clothes she had packed for her escape. She wouldn't need them in the new world since this Danielle girl was leaving everything. She left her hairbrush and toothbrush in the bag. She looked around her room. Was there anything she wanted to bring?

Her eyes fell on the sword. It was 39 inches long, from the tip of the blade to the end of the handle. But what made it special, was the blade. It was green, the colour of the Chant family and it could repel magic. There were wizards in her world, and her family did not have powerful magic, so this sword was forged to protect them. It had been passed down from ruler to ruler. Now it was hers.

She knew how to use it too. When she became Queen, she began swordplay lessons. Her teacher had come from China, so she was learning the ancient martial arts. She had never had to fight, but she could block spells with lightning speed.

Could she risk bringing it? But how could she not? Gwendolyn might be saving her from her fate, but she was a shallow girl who was more excited over a closet full of clothes than the prospect of ruling a country. She would not respect the sword or what it stood for.

Caroline sat at the vanity, with her bag in one hand, the sword in the other and waited.

* ~ * ~ *

She must have dosed off because the next thing she knew she was in another world.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Caroline clutched her things to her chest and looked around. It was the middle of the night so the room was dark. She could make out a bunch of beds with drawn curtains. One bed's curtains were open, Danielle's she assumed. Now, it was Caroline's

There were two doors in the room. She put her bag on her new bed and tucked the sword under the mattress. She would find a proper hiding place for it in the morning.

She went to the closest door and peeked out. There was a staircase leaning up and down. She assumed that they were in a tower. She wanted to explore the rest of the tower but she shut the door and opened the other one.

It was a bathroom. She turned on the light so she could see the room better. The whole room was deep red and gold. She went into Danielle's vanity drawers and found nothing that looked like a nightdress.

"Hey," Caroline whirled around and saw one of the girls had pulled back her bed's curtain.

"Turn the bloody light off," the girl mumbled.

"Sorry," she whispered. She turned off the light and heard the girl drop the curtain.

Not knowing what to do, she crawled into bed fully clothed and went to sleep.

* ~ * ~ *

Caroline woke up to sounds of people moving around. "Dani, get up. We're all going to breakfast." Someone said.

"Ok," Caroline said. She sat up in bed and smoothed back her hair. She wanted to make a good impression, even though they would think they've known her for years as Dani.

Caroline pushed back the curtains around her bed and got up. She looked nervously at the other girls, who all had their backs to her. One of them, a Middle Eastern looking girl turned around and yelped.

"Who are you?" she demanded. Caroline's heart skipped a beat.

"Um, I'm Dani?" Caroline said, trying to keep her voice steady. The other girls turned around and were all staring at her.

"No," the Middle Eastern girl said. "Dani has short black hair." This time, it felt like her heart stopped.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Caroline asked.

One of the other girls, with long light brown hair, stepped forward a little. "I don't know," she said. "Dani dyes her hair. Remember first and second year? Dani had hair like hers." She spoke to the other girls, but it made Caroline self conscious, having them all stare at her.

After a moment, a girl with bushy brown hair stepped forward. "All right, we all know you're not Dani. Tell us who you are and how you got here and we can sort this out."

Caroline froze. Her thoughts were racing. How much should she tell them? Will they believe her? Will they think she's crazy? She definitely would have thought Gwendolyn was crazy if she hadn't seen her emerge from the wall herself. But she couldn't think of a plausible story to tell them.

"Ok, um, my name is Caroline Chant. I'm from another world."

"WHAT?" the brown haired girl exploded.

"I know it sounds crazy, and I thought that too when I first heard it but let me explain."

Caroline told them about Gwendolyn coming into her room, and being switched to another sub-world. She left out the part where she was Queen, and just said that she was an orphan. They didn't need to know that.

The girls led Caroline downstairs to find someone named McGonagall.

"So, what are your names?" Caroline asked.

"Oh, sorry," the bushy haired girl said. "I'm Hermione, and this is Lavender and Parvati. Oh good, McGonagall's here already."

They emerged in a large circular room all done up in red velvet and gold. A huge group of students were standing around an elderly woman wearing green robes. All the students were talking at once, clamouring to be heard.

"If someone could tell me what is going on," the woman was saying.

"We were coming down for breakfast and we heard screaming coming from the fifth year's room," said a girl with bright red hair. Caroline could see there were three others with the same hair, brothers of the girl, she guessed.

"We banged on the door, but there was no answer," another girl piped.

"Professor," Hermione pushed to the front of the crowd. "Professor McGonagall, we need to talk to you."

"Miss Granger, was it you screaming?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Yes, but there was a reason," Hermione said. "This is Caroline. We woke up and she was in Danielle's bed. She says she's from another world." There was a collective gasp and everyone started talking again. Caroline could see people craning their necks to get a better look at her. McGonagall stared at her with wide eyes.

"We must take you to the Headmaster, immediately." She gestured for Caroline to follow her and she strode out of the room.

Caroline followed her through twisting hallways and down stairs. The castle was enormous, bigger than the Royal Palace. This castle was about the same age as hers. The big difference was that there was magic all around. People in the portraits on the walls ran in and out of their frames talking excitedly to each other and staring as Caroline and McGonagall passed.

McGonagall led Caroline to a large statue of a gargoyle.

"Sherbet Lemon," she said to it. The statue sprung to life and stepped to the side, leaving an entranceway to a staircase. At the top of the staircase was a heavy looking door. McGonagall knocked.

"Enter," said a voice. McGonagall pushed open the door and they walked into a circular room filled with all sorts of weird things. There was a huge red bird on a perch, and all sorts of strange knick-knacks lining the shelves. Some of them spun or made quiet little noises while others seemed to breathe.

The voice belonged to a man with a long silver beard and half moon glasses perched on his nose who was sitting behind a desk in the middle of the room.

This was the headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore. He looked at Caroline with open curiosity, but without the fear that everyone had, so far, had in their eyes. There was something about him that made Caroline trust him. She had been hurt and used so many people who had all assured her that she could trust them that she had almost stopped trusting adults. But his eyes twinkled at her and reminded her of her father's eyes, how they used to twinkle when she'd come home with ripped clothes and covered in dirt after a day out with her friends.

Caroline told him the whole story. She started with her parents dying and her ascension to the throne. She told him how she hated being Queen, how repressed she was at the palace and how she was a puppet of the Prime Minister. Then she told him about meeting Gwendolyn and her proposition and finally about appearing in the Gryffindor dormitory.

Through the whole thing, Dumbledore and McGonagall were silent. When she finished, there was a moment of silence. Dumbledore put the tips of his fingers together under his chin and seemed to be deep in thought.

"In all my years of teaching, I've never come across something like this," McGonagall said finally.

"She must go back," she said to Dumbledore. "If she is Queen, the last thing we want to do is start an inter-world war."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Dumbledore asked. "The theory of other worlds has been brought up several time over the course of history, but each time it was cast aside because of a lack of evidence. It seems that the only one who knows how to reverse what has happened is this Gwendolyn, who is taking currently Caroline's place and likely having an easier time of it than Caroline."

"How can you be so calm about this Albus?" McGonagall demanded. "She says she is from another world!"

"The Ministry of Magic needs to be alerted. Minerva, if you would be so kind as to send an owl to Cornelius and then if you could ask Sybil to come down?" McGonagall stared at Dumbledore, mutely, for a moment before she got up and left Caroline and Dumbledore alone.

Dumbledore studied her for a moment. Then, he got up, walked over to the cupboard and produced two mugs.

"I suppose you are wondering why I believe you," he said over his shoulder.

"You're a wizard. Can't you sense these things?"

"I can sense that you have magical abilities, but they are different than ours. It is difficult for me to tell definitely. That is why I am asking Professor Trelawney to come. She is a seer. Hot Chocolate?" Caroline accepted the drink and gasped as hot chocolate streamed from the end of his wand.

A few minutes later a small woman with large, very round glasses and a frightened look on her face came into the office. Without saying a word, she walked over to Caroline and stared at her. Intently for a moment.

"So it's you then," she whispered.

"Sybil, this is Caroline Chant. She claims to be from another world," Dumbledore said, but Trelawney didn't seem to be listening. She was staring at Caroline.

"I woke up last night because there was a disturbance. It was you, wasn't it, Your Majesty?" Caroline nodded.

"I think so," she said. Trelawney nodded.

"She tells the truth," she said to Dumbledore. "She is from another world, and she is Queen."

The rest of the day passed in a blur for Caroline. She was sent back to Gryffindor Tower and then brought back to Dumbledore's office to meet with the Minister of Magic. He was a small man in a bowler hat who reminded Caroline of the Prime Minister. He liked to pretend that he was in charge, but he kept glancing at Dumbledore to see his reactions.

Mr Fudge had the same reaction as McGonagall: he was shocked that Dumbledore was so calm, and frankly, Caroline was surprised too. When Gwendolyn had appeared, Caroline had nearly fainted.

"She must go back," Fudge said. "We must send her back."

"How?" Caroline interrupted. She was getting frustrated with everyone discussing her as if she was a piece of furniture. "You don't know how I got here. You didn't even know that other worlds existed before I dropped in. There's nothing you can do about it."

"Well I never-" Fudge gasped.

"She is right, Cornelius. And being frantic will not produce results," Dumbledore said practically. "Caroline is welcome to stay at Hogwarts until we can decide how to proceed. She will stay in Danielle's room and attend classes. I'm sure we can find some old textbooks for her somewhere. Luckily, term has just started, so she has not missed that much."

Caroline got ready for bed that night and cheered internally. She really didn't want to get sent back. Not that she really thought they'd be able to send her back. Fudge was just talking for the sake of talking. The only one who knew how to send her back was Gwendolyn and Caroline was sure that she was having the time of her life bossing everyone around in Gower.

As she lay down, she stifled a laugh at the thought of the Prime Minister and Gwendolyn fighting in Parliament. Caroline's money would be on Gwendolyn.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The next morning, Caroline went to breakfast with Hermione and her friends, Harry and Ron. Lavender and Parvati seemed to be scared of her, so she stuck with Hermione. Ron and Harry seemed to be a little scared of Caroline too, but they hid it for Hermione's sake.

After breakfast, Caroline was going for an evaluation of her powers and it was making her nervous.

"Just relax, Caroline," Hermione said. "You'll do fine."

"I've never used a wand before," Caroline said. "I've always used my magic just by thinking about what I want."

Hermione patted her shoulder. Caroline was sitting next to Hermione, with Ron and Harry across from them.

"Who's giving you the test?" Ron asked.

"McGonagall and Dumbledore," she said. Ron made a noise.

"What is that noise? That noise is not reassuring," Caroline said. "That noise says: Oh boy, she's screwed. She should start figuring out how to get back to her own world because she's going to get crucified here!"

"Calm down," Harry said. "McGonagall doesn't crucify people. In fact, I don't think she's made anyone cry in a few years either."

"Oh God," Caroline said. "I'm doomed."

Harry and Ron suddenly stiffened and glared at something behind her. She turned around on the bench and gasped.

It was Malcolm. He was the exact replica of Malcolm, Malcolm's version of Dani. He had way too much gel in his hair, making his head look slimy and he was wearing the Hogwarts uniform and looked cleaner than anything she had ever seen Malcolm, but it was definitely him. Behind him stood two huge boys who looked like his bodyguards.

"One day with you three and she already thinks she's doomed. That must be a record, eh Potter?" the boy sneered at Harry and Ron who glared back.

"Go away Malfoy," Harry said.

"It just so happens that I'm here to meet her," he nodded his head at Caroline. She shook her head and retrieved her senses.

"Um, hi, I'm Caroline Chant," she said.

He took her hand and kissed it. "Draco Malfoy, charmed," he said.

"Ok, she's met you. Now leave," Ron said.

"I don't think Caroline is done talking to me," Malfoy said. He looked back at Caroline who was trying to form a coherent sentence.

"Sorry, it's just that you look exactly like my best friend from back home."

Malfoy smiled. "Is he royalty like you?" he asked.

"No, Malcolm is a stable boy."

Malfoy made a sneering face. "He's a servant? Are you sure he's my doppelganger?"

"How dare you," Caroline snapped. "There is no shame in putting in an honest day's work, especially if it helps in the running of the country. Servants get well paid and their living expenses and those of their families are paid for from the treasury. Especially Malcolm, he's my horse's personal groom so I make sure that he is looked after. And another thing, I went from being a Queen to being a normal girl at a boarding school. I think that trumps spoiled rich kid to stable boy."

"Jeez, relax," Malfoy said. "I know that royalty can be uptight, but..." Malfoy turned around and stalked away, with his two cronies following him.

"Wow," Ron said. "Way to go Caroline." Caroline laughed and ate her toast to avoid talking.

Hermione twisted around and stared at Caroline. "You're quite the little firecracker aren't you?"

"I didn't like what he was insinuating. I had to tell him off."

"Ok, whatever you say." Hermione smirked.

"And stop looking at me like that," Caroline said.

"Like what?" Hermione put on her innocent face. "There is no look, I'm not looking."

"I have to go get evaluated," Caroline said. She got up from the table quickly and left.

* ~ * ~ *

Caroline took her evaluation and was placed a few years down, in some third year, but mostly fourth year classes, so she had most of her classes with Ginny, Ron's younger sister. The only class she had with the students her age was potions, but that was because she aced the potions test. Somehow it was just really easy even though she had never done any of it before.

Caroline quickly became friends with Ginny. The one year age gap made no difference.

Time passed and Caroline went to her classes. She had learned more magic in a month than she had in years of tutoring at home. She accounted her success to Dani's wand. Caroline had never had a wand, she'd always used her magic by willpower, and it had been weak.

The only part of her life that she kept hidden from her friends was the sword. She knew she was crazy to have brought it, but she couldn't bear to leave it behind. It was her family's legacy, and she'd be damned if she let a ditz like Gwendolyn ruin it.

She had found a loose wall panel behind the vanity, just like in her room at home, to keep it. She knew no one would find it because the girls all respected each other's space. No one would randomly pull the vanity away from the wall.

The whole school had found out about Caroline, so no one asked her to tell her story, she just got lots of stares as they walked to class.

"How did everyone find out about me?" Caroline asked one day. Ginny laughed

"Trying to keep secrets in this place is impossible and, believe me, they've tried." She told Caroline about the Chamber of Secrets incident during her first year.

Caroline stared at her and then pulled her into a hug. Ginny laughed and pushed her off.

"How can you be so nonchalant about it?" Caroline demanded.

"It happened, yes, but dwelling on it won't make it go away," Ginny said. "I mean, I don't understand how you can say your parents were assassinated so calmly either."

Caroline looked away.

"I'm sorry," Ginny whispered. Caroline smiled bravely. Her eyes had filled with tears that she brushed aside.

"I'm just a good actress," Caroline said. "Whenever I think about it, I feel like dying."

Ginny looped her arm through Caroline's. "It'll all be all right. I promise." And with that, they walked off to get lunch.

Then, around the beginning of October, strange things began to happen.

* ~ * ~ *

"Caroline, hurry up!" Ginny yelled. "McGonagall's going to kill us!"

Transfiguration class was about to start Caroline had had to stay late and talk to Professor Flitwick. The result was that she was now late and she still had to switch her Charms books for her Transfiguration book.

She dumped the contents of her bag on the bed. She turned to grab her book: and her hand met air. The book wasn't there. Caroline cursed and looked around frantically for it. She riffled through her books and the mess on her vanity, making an even bigger mess.

"What the hell?" she cried at the empty room. She whipped out her wand.

"Accio Transfiguration book!" she yelled. The book flew out from under the bed. Caroline caught it and stared for a moment. How had it gotten there? She could have sworn that she put it away after studying last night.

"CAROLINE!" Ginny bellowed up the stairs and Caroline forgot all about it. She threw the book in her bag and ran for her life down the stairs, out the portrait hole and to Transfiguration, where she and Ginny were each docked ten points and given detentions.

* ~ * ~ *

Later that week, Caroline pretended to take notes in History of Magic and thought about what had been happening.

Little things like the textbook incident kept happening. Caroline would put something away and when she'd go back for it, it would be somewhere completely illogical. Caroline decided not to tell anyone. After all, she was living with three other girls. One of them must have borrowed her book, and her hairbrush, and her toothbrush, and her coat. And one of them must have messed up her bed that one time.

But it made no sense. Why would they not have put things away? And why would they have denied using her things when she asked them? Maybe they were embarrassed; using her toothbrush was pretty embarrassing.

There was something else bugging Caroline. Malfoy was bugging Caroline. When she had seen him, she thought she was dreaming. Seeing him made her think that Hogwarts was a big dream, that she had hit her head falling off the wall and Gwendolyn and Hogwarts and everything had just been a hallucination. Then he opened his mouth. How could he be Malcolm's twin, yet his polar opposite at the same time?

Malcolm was kind and gentle and charming and...

Crash! Class was over and the noise of thirty thirteen-year-old kids was deafening.

Caroline gathered up her things and left the class. History of Magic was one of her only third year classes and she was glad it was a lecture class. Interacting with kids two years younger than her was awkward, especially since she was head and shoulders taller than them.

That was probably why she was so close with Ginny. Ginny had inherited her family's tall gene. At fourteen, she was 5'7" and her brothers were all over six feet.

She shook her head to clear it and went back to Gryffindor Tower. She gave the Fat Lady the password and went entered the common room.

Ron and Harry were playing Wizard Chess and Hermione was reading in a chair nearby. Caroline went over and sat in the chair next to Hermione, not wanting to disturb the boys.

"Hey," Caroline said. "Who's winning?"

"I am," Harry and Ron both said at the same time. Caroline laughed.

"Ron is," Hermione said. "Harry can never beat him."

"Hey!" Harry said. Ron looked smug.

"Rook to H8, checkmate!"

"Drat!" Harry exclaimed. Ron just laughed and they started to put the chess set away.

"Think you can handle another round?" Caroline asked.

Ron looked up. His face lit up. "Sure! Maybe you'll put up a better fight than Harry here."

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed again.

Caroline sat down and played Ron. After an hour, they were at a stalemate.

"Call it a draw?" she asked.

They shook hands. "Yeah, good game," Ron said. "I'm starved. Let's go for dinner."

"You're always hungry," she said.

"I am not," Ron was indignant.

"Actually, you are," Hermione said. They all laughed while Ron made some indignant sounds. They put the chess away, and all went down for dinner.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The next day she had Potions. Unfortunately, Potions was with Slytherin, so she was stuck in a classroom with Malfoy. He was on the other side of the class, so it wasn't too bad, but he kept looking at her when he thought no one was looking and after a month it was getting annoying.

"Today you will be brewing the Confusing & Befuddlement Draught," Snape announced. "We have been studying the ingredients and the effects of the potion all week, so brewing it should not be a problem for those of you paying attention." He shot Harry and Ron a look that they pretended not to notice. They had been goofing off all week.

Snape began assigning partners. Caroline noticed that he was putting one talented student and one not so talented student together.

"Malfoy and Chant," he said finally. Caroline cursed silently. Malfoy was a potions whiz kid. That meant that she was the stupid half of the group. Oh well.

She got up and went to sit in the spot vacated by Pansy. She didn't look at Malfoy. He had been giving her problems since the first day when she had made it clear that she didn't want to be friends with her. It wasn't only her though, which made Caroline feel a bit better, he was awful to all Gryffindors.

Halfway through the class, she looked up and saw Hermione struggling with Neville. He had chopped his scurvy-grass so unevenly, and Hermione was doing her best to salvage it. Caroline stifled a laugh. She'd have to tease Hermione about that later.

"Why are you friends with them?" Malfoy asked. "I wouldn't have thought royalty would hang out with the likes of them."

"What does that mean exactly?" Caroline's guard went up. She didn't look at him. She just kept chopping her sneezewort.

"If I were a King, they're not the kinds of people I'd want to surround myself with," he looked up from his stirring. "I mean, a Scar-head, a blood-traitor and a mudblood? You could do so much better, Your Majesty."

"Quick word of advice: Don't piss off the girl with the knife." She held it up at eye level and glared at him over it. She turned back and furiously chopped her sneezewort. "Damn, it's too fine!" She tossed it aside and grabbed another one to chop.

"Why was it so bad?" he asked. "I mean you were a Queen, you must have had servants and money and everything you could ever want. Why would you have left?"

"Everything except my freedom," she said sourly. "I became Queen when I was ten. What did I know about statesmanship? I was a wild little thing who ran with the servant kids and came home at the end of every day covered in dirt. I didn't want to be Queen, but I had no choice."

"So you had to grow up faster than most. That seems a small price to pay for what you gave up," Malfoy said. "It seems pretty stupid to throw it all away."

"Shows how much you know," Caroline muttered.

"Excuse me?" he demanded.

She looked straight at him. "I said that shows how much you know." The whole class quieted, she had spoken quite loudly. They both lowered their heads and the buzz of conversation resumed.

"You have no idea what it was like," she whispered fiercely. "I was a prisoner in my own home. I was treated like a piece of furniture which is supposed to look pretty but serves no actual purpose. Until you've experienced that don't you dare judge me you spoiled selfish little snot!"

She and Malfoy exchanged death glares for the rest of the class.

As soon as class ended, Malfoy packed his things and ran from the class. It was just as well. If she had spent any more time with Malfoy someone would have gotten hurt, and it would likely have been him.

As soon as she was outside, someone grabbed her elbow and pulled her around.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. It was Malfoy.

"I thought I'd fill you in, since you're new," he said. "You're not royalty anymore, Your Highness. Lose the airs. I run this school."

Caroline pulled her arm out of his grasp and took a step back. She had never met anyone this arrogant. At least the Prime Minister pretended to respect other people, but not Malfoy.

"Highness is for Princes and Princesses. Queens are Your Majesty. You'd know that if you knew anything," she snapped. "Just because you have lackeys doesn't make you in charge of me. And why do they follow you anyway?" By this point, there was quite a crowd gathered. Most of Potions who had seen them arguing in class were standing around watching Round Two.

"They recognize power when they see it," he said.

She made a show of looking around. "Really, where?" she asked.

"You little-"

"What? What are you going to say?" she took a step forward, got in his face. "I've had just about enough of you. You're nothing a bully. You pick on kids smaller and weaker than you. You make them feel bad to make yourself feel good, but that's to hide how insecure you are."

"If you weren't a girl and so weak, I'd challenge you to a duel for that cheek."

"I accept," she snapped. "I'm not scared of you."

He smirked at her. "Fine," he said. "This should be easy. I challenged so you pick where and when."

"Tomorrow afternoon, during the staff meeting," she said "Back of the school."

"I'm her second," Harry stepped forward. Malfoy looked at him and sneered.

"Sticking up for your girlfriend? Very noble Potter," he said. He glanced at his friends. "Crabbe is my second."

*~*~*

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Hermione demanded as soon as they were safely in the Gryffindor common room.

"It'll be fine 'Mione," Caroline sighed.

"No, it won't be fine," she said. "You're a lot weaker than him, he'll destroy you!"

"Ease up Hermione," Ron said. "I think it's brilliant what you're doing, by the way." He told her.

"I'm with Hermione," Harry said.

Caroline looked up, surprised. "But you volunteered to be my second," she said.

"Yeah, because I thought he'd back off when he saw this could get serious."

"You don't believe in me either," she said. She looked at Ron. "Tell me you have faith in me."

Ron studied his shoes. "I think it's great that you stood up to him, but you're only in third year charms."

"I have magic, I've always had magic," she insisted. "It's just not in spell form."

She got blank looks all around.

"Wait here." She ran up to the room, pulled the vanity away from the wall and retrieved the sword.

When she arrived back downstairs, the three Gryffindor' eyes widened in shock.

"This is why I'll be fine." She unsheathed the sword and showed it to them. "It's magic repellent. He shoots a spell, I swing this, and it bounces off somewhere else." The three friends were mute. They were staring at the sword. It was pretty impressive, maybe Malfoy would see it and get scared and back off. After all, she might not have magic, but she could still slit his throat with it.

Harry found his voice first. "And- um, you can actually use that thing?" he stammered.

She got up and picked up the sword. "Try to disarm me," she said.

Harry got up. "_Expelliarmus_!" The spell shot at her.

"Hiya!" She swung the sword. Spell and sword collided with the sound of crashing metal. The spell bounced off and hit Harry square in the chest. He flew one way, his wand the other. Caroline reached up, caught the wand in her left hand and smiled smugly down at him. He got to his feet and she gave him back his wand.

"Yeah, you'll be fine tomorrow," he said.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

And so tomorrow came. At 2:30, Caroline waited with Harry, Ron and Hermione behind the castle for Malfoy.

As they waited, more people began showing up. In one day, word had gotten around that the new girl and the Slytherin Prince were going to fight and people wanted to watch.

"Is this all right?" Harry asked, concerned for her. "If you want, I can tell them to go away."

"It doesn't matter," Caroline said. "They've been staring at me since I first arrived here, why is now any different?" Harry shrugged.

A few minutes later, Malfoy and a whole Slytherin posse showed up. He sneered at her and she glared back.

"Ready?" he took out his wand.

"Are you?" she asked. She turned and picked up the sword. She smiled evilly at him and unsheathed it slowly, letting the sound echo through the air. Never underestimate the advantages of a little drama. She dropped the sheath and pointed the sword at him.

"A sword? We are desperate." He tried to cover his fear with cockiness, but Caroline saw the look in his eyes.

They shook hands and assumed their positions.

"_Locomotor Mortis!"_ Malfoy shot the Leg-Locker Curse at her. She swung the sword. It bounced off and hit the wall of the castle. Malfoy stared in shock, but quickly recovered his senses.

"_Incarcerous, Expelliarmus!_" Same result for both.

They fought for a good five minutes without rest. Malfoy was getting frustrated. He was breathing hard. With every spell, Caroline took a small pace forward, and Malfoy, wanting to keep normal dueling distance, kept backing up.

They both stopped to catch their breaths and he stared at her. "Where do you even get hold of a sword in this day and age?" he demanded.

"It has been in my family for four hundred," she told him with pride.

Malfoy took a deep breath. "_Relashio!"_

Caroline swung the sword again, but this time with more accuracy. The brief breather had let her gather herself, so when the spell came at her, she deflected it at a straight angle. It bounced back and hit Malfoy.

Fiery sparks hit his hands. He yelped and dropped his wand. He dove for it, but stopped short. Between him and his wand was a 29 inch green blade. They stood frozen in a tableau for a moment.

"Up," Caroline ordered. "Slowly." Malfoy straightened. His eyes were fixed on the sword. She kept it trained on his throat. None of the spectators moved or said anything.

"You will leave us alone from now on," she had slipped into using the royal plural without realizing it. Malfoy nodded slowly, not wanting to make any sudden movements. "You will stop picking on students younger than you." Another nod. "And you will stop referring to muggle-born students as mudbloods in and out of our presence." There was a fractional pause before he nodded again. "Good." Caroline lowered the sword and backed away from him, keeping her eyes on him. When she was with her friends again, she turned and picked up her sword's sheath.

"_Serpentortia!" _Malfoy had grabbed his wand and shot one final spell at her. A snake sprung from the end of his wand and flew at her. She dropped the sheath, swung the sword, and sliced the snake clean in half. She glared at him.

"That was low," she said. Her voice was quiet, but dangerous. She advanced towards him, repelling spell after spell. She bounced a spell back at him that stung him in the hands. He jumped back, but not in time. She swung the sword one more time and the tip caught his arm.

"Ah!" he clutched his arm. She had nicked him, just lightly, but it was enough to make him bleed. "You little-"

ZAP! A bolt of electricity jumped from her hand and shocked him. He staggered back, clutching hand.

"The next time you challenge us, I'll maim you," Caroline snapped. She whirled around and stomped off.

***~*~***

Caroline managed to avoid Slytherin contact for the rest of the week, mainly because they were avoiding her. No one could understand how a magic-less girl with a sword had bested the Slytherin Prince. It was the first time since arriving at Hogwarts that Caroline hadn't minded the stares and whispers that followed her through the school. The teachers, for their part, remained oblivious, or if they did know, they didn't say anything. She knew Malfoy wouldn't say anything because that would involve admitting that he challenged her, which was also against the rules. They had both duelled, but he had challenged, making it his own fault.

Potions was the only awful class. Snape could tell something was going on, but no one was telling him anything. Malfoy spent the class shooting her dark looks. He wanted to get her in trouble, she knew it, but he was having a hard time figuring out how to do it without getting in trouble himself.

"Class dismissed," Snape said. Everyone got up to leave. "Malfoy and Chant stay behind." Caroline glanced at her friends. What could he want to talk to her about?

"We'll wait for you outside," Hermione said.

Caroline and Malfoy approached Snape's desk.

"I don't know what is going on but your anger is disrupting the class," he glared at them sternly, even Malfoy. "Are you going to tell me?"

Caroline studied her fingers. She felt Malfoy staring at her, waiting for her to say something.

"Caroline has a sword in her room," Malfoy blurted. She whipped her head around and glared at him.

"What?" Snape stared. He hadn't been expecting that.

"A sword. It's big and sharp and green. She was waving it around showing off yesterday during the staff meeting."

Snape rounded on her, having regained his composure. "Is this true?"

Caroline's mind raced. Damn. Why had she picked an adversary who was so smart? She could deny it, but then they might search her room, but would they find it? Yes, they would. They had magic.

"It's purely ceremonial," Caroline said slowly. "I was giving a swordplay demonstration to a few students." She lied easily. No reason to let Snape know that she had threatened his favourite student's neck.

"Possession of a weapon on school property is against the rules," Snape said. "You must see the headmaster."

Twenty minutes later, Caroline, Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore were all in Dumbledore's office. Caroline had retrieved the sword and Dumbledore was examining it like a kid with a new toy. He flexed it lightly and flicked it with his finger, listening to the sound that it made. He peered at it through his half moon spectacles, admiring the patterns engraved into the blade.

"She brought a weapon from her world into this one, and kept it hidden," Snape was saying. "Who knows what her real motives were for coming here?"

"I told the truth!"

"You would say that, wouldn't you?" Snape said. "How do we know that you're even really from another world? Maybe you work for the Dark Lord and were sent to infiltrate the school."

"Dark Lord? That sounds like something from a bad paperback novel."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Does that answer your question, Severus?"

"She might be lying."

"Sybil said that she is who she said she is."

Snape made a noise.

"I know you don't think much of her, but I trust her," Dumbledore said. He turned to Caroline. "Out of curiosity, why did you bring a sword to a school?"

"It's a family heirloom. It's been in my family for four hundred years. I couldn't leave it behind."

"You had planned on leaving you old identity behind, why not leave it?" McGonagall asked. Caroline shrugged and looked at her shoes. She really had no idea why she brought it either. With every day that passed it was looking more like a stupid idea.

"Well," Dumbledore stood up. "I think we can close this matter, no damage was done, permanently, at least." His eyes twinkled at Caroline and she froze. Did he know? But how?

Snape began to say something about punishing her, but Dumbledore cut him off.

"Is a wand not a weapon as well, Severus? And a more dangerous weapon at that," Dumbledore smiled at her. "I think you had better let me keep it here, in my office. It will be safer here than in your room, now that everyone knows that you are in possession of a sword."

Caroline nodded solemnly. She stared at the sword for a moment. She knew that he was right. The sword would be safer in his office. So why did it feel like she was leaving a part of her behind as she left the office?


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Caroline went back to Gryffindor common room and was met with cheers. Turns out Fred and George had organized a party in her absence to either celebrate her victory or say goodbye, which ever the case turned out to be. When they saw her smiling, the twins ran up to Caroline, grabbed her and hoisted her up onto their shoulders.

"Here's to Caroline," George cried. "One of the few people who's ever scared Malfoy out of his wits!"

"And managed to not get punished by Snape!" Fred added.

They led the common room in a rousing cheer while Caroline laughed.

When they put her down, Harry, Ron and Hermione ran over.

"So you're not expelled?" Hermione demanded.

Caroline shook her head. "Malfoy didn't tell them that we duelled because he'd get in trouble too, so they don't know. Dumbledore took the sword, but I'm not expelled."

Everyone cheered and half a dozen arms surrounded her in hugs.

Caroline gasped and pulled away. Lips had connected with hers, hard. She stared and Harry was staring at her, looking kind of scared. Ron and Hermione were staring at him with shock. No one else had noticed, but in their bubble, the party had stopped.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled. "I'm just happy you're not expelled."

Caroline felt herself blushing. A smile spread across her face. She reached forward, put a hand on each of his cheeks and kissed him back. She kissed him lighter than he had her, but it was a purposeful kiss. It was a kiss that said "Me too." Several people wolf-whistled or cheered. When they broke apart, Harry's face matched Ron's hair and Caroline was sure hers did too.

Suddenly, Parvati and Lavender came barrelling over.

"Caroline, Hermione, come quick!" Parvati panted.

They followed Parvati and Lavender up the stairs to their room. Parvati pushed open the door and Caroline gasped. It looked like a tornado had been through their room. All the furniture had been pushed away from the walls, their clothes and books were strewn across the room and the bathroom had been ransacked.

But Caroline's bed was the worse off. Someone had taken a knife to her bed. The drapes around her bed were full of ragged holes and her blankets and sheet were in the same condition. The splashes of white showing through the crimson blankets made Caroline think of inverted blood stains.

The girls walked into the room slowly, soaking it all in.

"Who would do this?" Hermione whispered. "We should call McGonagall."

Parvati nodded and took off down the stairs.

Caroline walked over to her vanity. They had all been pulled away from the walls, but hers was the only one that had a hiding place behind it. She peered around the mirror and gasped. Someone had taken a knife pinned a piece of parchment to the wall. Hermione walked over and looked.

"Who so Pulleth Out This Sword of this Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of All England," Hermione read. "That's from 'The Sword in the Stone'. What does that mean?"

"It means they've found me," Caroline said. "They must have noticed that the sword was missing and figured out that Gwendolyn isn't me. But how did they get here?" Caroline looked wildly around the room as if she expected her pursuers to jump out from behind something. When nothing happened she turned back.

She pulled the knife and the note off the wall and looked at it. The note was parchment, the kind that they wrote assignments on. But the knife was unique. The blade was normal metal. But the handle was dark wood and had a design carved into it. As Caroline peered at it, she saw that it was an elaborate letter C entwined with an M.

"Should we start cleaning up then?" Lavender asked.

"We should probably wait for McGonagall," Hermione said.

The girls stood around for a few minutes staring at the mess. Lavender looked like she was going to cry. It was obviously taking every bit of self control not to clean up her things, especially her clothes and makeup.

McGonagall came sweeping into the room and gasped.

"My Goodness," was all she could say. Caroline walked over and held out the letter and the knife.

"Why would someone do this?" Lavender sobbed.

"They've found me, somehow," she said. "This is all my fault. I should just leave now."

"Nonsense, where would you go? No, you are a Hogwarts student now and we will not tolerate threats against our students."

Caroline suddenly felt all warm. Here was another adult who was willing to risk herself to defend her. On impulse, Caroline threw her arms around McGonagall. Several students gasped and Caroline felt McGonagall stiffen. But it went away.

"Any time, my dear," McGonagall whispered before Caroline backed off.

"Well, let me fix this," McGonagall was all business again. "_Scourgify._" She waved her wand and the things in the room zoomed through the air back to their original places.

"If anything is missing, inform me immediately," McGonagall said as she left.

*~*~*

McGonagall's sudden appearance had broken up the party downstairs, so the four friends were able to find a quiet corner to talk.

"What did you mean when you said that they had found you?" Hermione asked.

"The knife that was stuck in the wall matches the knife that was found next my parents when they were murdered," Caroline said. Everyone gasped.

"So people from your old world are trying to kill you?" Harry said. "Why?"

"They killed my parents because they wanted to overthrow the Chant clan and take control. I'm the last in the line."

"So what are we going to do about this threat?" Ron asked.

"We'll stick by you every hour of the day," Harry promised. "I won't let anything happen to you." Caroline smiled and he smiled back. The kiss from earlier hung between them. It felt like so long ago, but only two hours had passed.

As she stared at him, the memory came back. His lips soft and warm against hers, his hands around her waist felt rough but so gentle...

"Oh just kiss her already, mate!" Ron exploded. "You did before."

Both Caroline and Harry blushed, but Harry leaned over and kissed her quickly. He tasted as good as before and Caroline was instantly craving more but she suppressed it. She settled for holding his hand.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," Harry said. "What was that electric shock that you did at the end of your duel with Malfoy?" The other two nodded. They were curious too.

Caroline smiled. "That's what I meant when I said I had magic. If I'm emotional enough, I can zap people like that. I can also make people kneel in front of me. Mackenzie hated when I did that," she giggled at the memory.

"That's really amazing," Hermione said. "Magic without a wand is extremely difficult."

"I think my magic is just different than yours," Caroline said. "It's like music: Rap and Country are both forms of music, they're just on different ends of the spectrum. You can control your magic more than I can, but mine seems to be more innate than yours."

"Well, I'm going to teach you some defensive spells to strengthen your chances of beating these jerks if they come again," Harry said.

The conversation drifted off into less dramatic topics and soon it was time for bed.

Despite the drama of the day, Caroline was happy. Sure there were assassins who had somehow crossed between the world who were out to get her and Malfoy would definitely want revenge, but she had friends and a boyfriend who loved her enough to pledge themselves in her defence.

Yes, life at Hogwarts, while dramatic, was good.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Harry was true to his word. Whenever they had spare moments, he took her into a spare classroom and taught her spells. She felt bad practicing on him, but he was better than her so she rarely landed any.

"_Expelliarmus!_" Caroline said for the tenth time.

"_Protego!_" Harry blocked the spell easily. "Good, you're getting stronger."

"But you keep blocking me," Caroline said. She knew her whining was unattractive, but she was tired and Harry was a hard task master.

"I'm using more effort to block than when we started. You are improving, believe me."

Caroline sighed.

"Let's end there," Harry said. Caroline smiled gratefully. Duelling was tiring. She would much rather just zap her attacker and run. She was practicing that too and slowly she was learning to shoot electricity at will and not just when she was frightened or angry.

Caroline took Harry's hand as they left the classroom. "Can we go for a walk?" she asked. I feel like I haven't seen much of you this week."

"Of course," he said.

They headed outside to walk around the lake. It was getting cooler as the days got shorter, but they were both bundled against the chill.

They talked about nothing as they walked, just enjoying being together.

As they circled back towards the Forbidden Forest, two big men in travelling cloaks jumped out from the forest. Caroline's eyes focused on the matching brooches that they each wore. They both had a crescent moon shape on them.

One grabbed Caroline and pulled her hand from Harry's. The other tried to tackle Harry.

"Harry!" Caroline cried. Her attacker was pulling her towards the forest.

"Caroline!" Harry yelled. His attacker punched him in the mouth. Harry pulled out his wand.

"_Relashio!_" the spell shot from his wand. His assailant immediately jumped back as sparks shocked him everywhere.

Caroline suddenly recovered her senses. She struggled in the man's arms. He tried to hold her but she stamped as hard as she could on his foot. He howled in pain but didn't let go. He did, however, relax enough for Caroline to grab her wand from her pocket.

"_Expelliarmus!_" she pointed the wand behind her. She heard him scream and he immediately let her go. She wriggled out of his grasp in time to see Harry shoot another spell at his goon.

Her goon dove for her again. Angry now, she stuck out her hand and an electric shock jumped from her hand to his. The jolt traveled down his arm and his whole body shook.

Harry's goon had given up. He grabbed his associate, who was doubled over in pain and they retreated quickly.

"This isn't the end, girlie," he snarled. Before Harry or Caroline could react, he pulled a vial out of his pocket and threw it on the ground. The two attackers were engulfed in black flames for an instant before winking out of existence.

"Are you all right?" Harry hugged her close.

"Yes, I'm fine," Caroline hugged him back. "Good thing you gave me those lessons."

Harry didn't smile. "Were those the assassins?" he asked seriously.

"They were from the organization that killed my parents. They were both wearing brooches of the Crescent Moon."

"We have to tell Dumbledore," Harry said. "He'll know what to do."

Harry took her up to the Headmaster's office where they recounted what had happened. Dumbledore was as close to alarmed as Caroline had seen him, which she took as a good sign. But he had no insights into how they had gotten there or what was in the vial that had made the black flames.

For the first time, Caroline was afraid. They could travel between worlds and she couldn't. What other powers did they have that she was unaware of?


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Weeks passed and days progressed as normal.

Caroline had just gotten out of another horrible potions class. She walked with Harry, Hermione and Ron back to the common room. Gryffindor had a game against Slytherin in the morning and Snape had been trying to provoke Harry so that he could ban him from playing.

"Why couldn't the git just insult me outright? Then I'd have an excuse to retaliate," Harry complained.

"Because that would be far too obvious for Snape, you know that," Caroline scolded. "Just forget about it. Focus on tomorrow's game."

"Yeah, when we win, he'll have to shut up!" Ron cheered. They all laughed. Quidditch always cheered them up, even if only Harry played on the team.

They rounded the corner into the foyer and Caroline froze. She stood, staring, terrified down the stairs.

"What?" Harry squeezed her hand, but she didn't react. She just stared Harry followed her eyes. Dumbledore was standing at in front of the main doors with a man wearing a luxurious silk robe and several men who looked like goons.

"It's Mackenzie, the Capitan of the Guard. And he brought two lieutenants! They're here to take me back."

Caroline turned and ran down the hall with her friends in hot pursuit. She didn't stop running. She ran hard, taking the long way back to the common room.

As she rounded the corner, she ran full speed into someone and they were both sent sprawling across the floor.

"Sorry," she gasped.

"Carrie?" a voice asked. Caroline froze.

The only person who ever called her Carrie was, "Malcolm?" she gasped.

"Carrie! It's really you!" He grabbed her around the middle and gave her one of his bone cracking hugs.

"Malcolm," she gasped. He released her right away.

"Sorry Carrie, I'm just so happy that it's actually you!" he looked at her. "What on earth are you wearing?"

Caroline staggered back and looked at him. He was wearing his old dirty trousers and his work shirt and he desperately needed a haircut. It was definitely Malcolm, not Malfoy.

"God, it's good to see you again. That Gwendolyn girl that you let in your place is awful, treats us all like dirt. But we put her right a few times once I told everyone that she wasn't you. We-"

"WHAT?" Caroline grabbed his arm. "You told? WHY?"

"I didn't know what else to do!" he pulled his arm free. "I had just gotten back from a lashing for letting you borrow my clothes to escape and then that dog shows up with your note. That's a fine way to leave a friend, Carrie. 'I'm off to another world. Don't tell anyone that my replacement isn't me.' That's no kind of explanation, Carrie."

"I know, I'm sorry," Caroline hugged him again. "I really am sorry. Leaving you behind was the hardest thing I ever did."

Malcolm looked over her shoulder and she turned. Her friends had caught up with her.

"Guys, this is Malcolm. Malcolm these are Hermione, Ron and Harry," when she introduced Harry, she slipped her hand into his. Malcolm's eyes tracked down to their hands but he didn't say anything.

"You really do look like Malfoy," Ron said.

Then from around the corner came the group from the foyer. Caroline tensed to run but Harry held her hand. She gripped it and his touch gave her strength.

"That was a wonderful display of speed that you gave us in the foyer, Miss Chant," Dumbledore said lightly. "But I think it would be best if you stayed to hear what our guests have to say."

"I don't need to hear to know what they're here," Caroline said. She glared at Mackenzie. "They're here to force me to go back with them. They've obviously found that Gwendolyn isn't willing to be their figurehead so they're trying to get me back. Well I won't go!" She yelled in the Mackenzie's face.

"You have violated so many laws I don't even know where to begin," he snapped. "You've almost ruined Gower."

"The Prime Minister ruined Gower!" she replied. "You can't make me go back!" Harry squeezed her hand and stroked her shoulder. She stepped back into his arms.

Mackenzie smiled slowly. "So that's what is behind this," he said. "Ye don't want to leave yer lad."

"I don't want to leave my freedom," she corrected.

"Ye signed that away," the Mackenzie pointed out.

"Then I'll sign another one abdicating. Then the Prime Minister can replace me like he's always wanted to."

"The Chants have ruled Gower for four hundred years. Are you really going to throw away your family's legacy?" Mackenzie asked.

"Don't," she pointed a finger at him. She felt like crying. "Don't put that on me. That's not what I'm doing."

"Yes it is," he stepped towards her. "You are single-handedly bringing down the Great Chant Dynasty of Gower. Do you know what that will mean? Gower will be vulnerable. Without a Chant on the throne Illyria will finally have their change to invade. And I don't doubt that they will manage it."

"That's not fair, Mackenzie," Caroline was close to tears. Harry hugged her but it didn't have the soothing effect that it usually did.

"But it's the truth, Lass," Mackenzie said. "We need you."

There was a moment of silence as Caroline absorbed everything.

"Might I speak?" the mystery guest asked. Caroline looked at him. He was quite tall but wearing what looked like a dressing gown.

"I am Chrestomanci," he said. "I am in charge of the use of magic in the related worlds. I moving all of you over, Gwendolyn has disrupted the balance of magic in all twelve related."

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked, though she thought she knew the answer already.

"Your type of magic is different from Gwendolyn's and different again from the magic here," he gestured around. "Think of each world as a machine built to accept a certain kind of coin. This world is only built to handle round coins while yours accepts only octagonal coins. Gwendolyn is essentially trying to force an octagonal coin into a round coin's slot. If you don't return, the machine will break."

"I'll break this world?" Caroline gasped. "How?"

"Those men who attacked you a few weeks ago came through in a rift between the worlds that was created when Gwendolyn moved you. They have been to four other worlds, searching for you. In each world, they attacked the girl who is your replica only to realize that she was not you."

"But now they've found you here," Mackenzie said. "They mean to kill you Yer Majesty."

"NO!" Caroline exploded. Harry jumped back, his hands stung. "I'm not Your Majesty! I'm just Caroline Chant!"

Caroline saw the knowing look that passed between Mackenzie, Chrestomanci and Dumbledore and she didn't like it.

"What?" she asked.

"Even as you deny it, you are invoking your brand of magic," Chrestomanci said.

Caroline studied her shoes. She knew in her heart that they were right. Everything that had happened was because she tried to deny who she was. It was because of her pride that she had conflicts with Malfoy. Even her relationship with Harry had stemmed from fights caused by her pride for her family name.

"Not only that, but Gwendolyn is driving the country to bankruptcy," Malcolm put in.

"What?" Caroline gasped. "Shouldn't the Prime Minister have stopped her?"

Mackenzie and the lieutenants laughed.

"The Prime Minister is incompetent buffoon," Mackenzie laughed. "He really doesn't handle conflict well. Gwendolyn just started yelling and he backed down immediately. In fact, if you did that, maybe less of his infernal ideas would make it into law."

"It started with her decision to build another castle on the sea, for summertime of course," Malcolm said sarcastically. "Then, she got Gower involved in a very expensive war with the Duchy of Cormack because the emissaries from Banting were 'Oh So Charming'." Malcolm made his voice high to imitate Gwendolyn, but Caroline didn't laugh.

"There has been peace between Gower and Cormack for a hundred years! What is wrong with her?" Caroline exclaimed.

"Don't you see Carrie? Gower needs you," Malcolm said. Caroline didn't want to see the pleading in his eyes, but she couldn't look away. She felt as if every citizen of Gower was staring out from Malcolm's eyes, begging her to come back.

Malcolm took her hand.

"No, Malcolm, please don't," Caroline begged weakly. He ignored her and knelt down on one knee.

"I ask you as your loyal friend and your loyal subject," He kissed her hand and pressed it to his forehead. "Please come home." Movement caught Caroline's eye and she looked up. Mackenzie and the two lieutenants had knelt too.

"Home," Caroline echoed. And with that, she knew that she needed to go home. Hogwarts wasn't home, Gower was. And now that she knew how to handle the Prime Minister, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

She turned to her friends. "I have to go," she said, choking back tears. "My place is in Gower. I'm sorry, but I'm an octagon." They all laughed at the absurdness of that statement, but they all understood.


	10. Chapter 10 Final

2

**Chapter 10**

An hour later, after all her things had been gathered and her goodbyes said. Caroline stood with Malcolm, Mackenzie and the two lieutenants watching Chrestomanci draw a chalk pentangle on the floor of the Great Hall. Quite a crowd had gathered to watch because no one had ever seen this done before. Caroline herself was a little nervous because last time, she had been asleep.

She held the sword in one hand and Malcolm's hand in the other.

Everyone she had known at Hogwarts was lined up, so that they could say goodbye. It felt like a receiving line. People that she barely knew were wishing her well and saying that they'd miss her.

She felt Malcolm stop suddenly. She looked and then laughed. He had seen Malfoy and was staring with his mouth wide open. Malfoy had a similar look on his face.

"Malcolm, meet Draco Malfoy," she giggled. "Malfoy, this is Malcolm, my best friend." Her giggles seemed to snap the boys out of their shock. Malcolm laughed and held out his hand to shake. Malfoy didn't move. Malcolm withdrew his hand.

"Nice to meet you," Malcolm said. He squeezed Caroline's shoulder and took a step back.

With a laugh, Caroline hugged Malfoy. He stiffened but hugged her back tentatively.

"I still hate you," she muttered.

"Me too," he answered. "But you're not half bad for a freak."

Caroline laughed. "Thanks, you're not too bad either," she said.

Then she came to Harry, Ron and Hermione. She swept them into a tight hug. Tears flowed down her cheeks. She was never going to see them again.

"I'm going to miss you the most," she whispered.

"Not more than we'll miss you," Hermione said in a tight voice. She was crying too.

"Yeah, what are we going to do without you?" Ron asked. He was trying not to cry, but not managing very well.

Caroline pulled away and threw her arms around Harry. She felt his arms around her, tight. She kissed him fiercely through her tears and he kissed her back. They didn't speak. There were no words needed. Caroline would miss him terribly and she knew that he would miss her.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Mackenzie. It was time to go.

She slowly unravelled herself from Harry. It was almost as painful physically as it was mentally, emotionally.

"I'll never forget you," she whispered hoarsely.

"I'll never forget you either."

Caroline backed into the Pentangle, letting Mackenzie's hand guide her, never taking her eyes off Harry.

Chrestomanci sprinkled powder around them. The image of Hogwarts started to blur.

"Goodbye!" Caroline yelled suddenly. "Bye, Ron! Bye, Hermione! Bye, Harry!" Her voice cracked as she said Harry's name. She could see everyone waving. She felt Mackenzie squeeze her shoulder.

Then, it was gone. Caroline looked around. They were in the dining room of the Royal Palace.

"It's all right. We made it," Chrestomanci said.

Caroline stepped out of the Pentangle in a daze. She vaguely heard Chrestomanci say that he had to go. She wandered through the familiar hallways, staring around without really seeing. She couldn't believe that she was back.

She stopped and realized that her feet had taken her to her chambers. She opened the door to her sitting room and the ladies descended upon her.

"Oh you poor thing."

"Look at her, she must be traumatized."

"I'll go run a bath."

"Let's get you out of those awful clothes."

Caroline jerked away as they tugged at her robes.

"I can dress myself, thank you Lady Ingrid," she said firmly. Lady Ingrid was shocked. Caroline had never spoken to any of them like that. They stared at her with their mouths open.

"I am going to go clean up. If I need help, I'll call," Caroline walked past them into her room and shut the door firmly behind her.

The room seemed so big and empty. Her dormitory at Hogwarts was half the size with four girls in it. Caroline looked up. The ceiling was as beautiful as ever. As she stared the clouds seemed to form into the shapes of her friends. The fluffiness was Hermione's curly hair. A wisp was Ron's. And she could swear that that unruly looking cloud was Harry's forever messy hair.

She walked over to the desk and picked up a photo in a frame. It was a gift from some dignitary and so the photo was of a boring landscape. Caroline tossed the photo aside. From her robes, she pulled one of Harry, Ron, Hermione and her. Colin Creevy had taken it and Hermione had helped him enchant it so that the figures moved.

Caroline had her arms around Harry and Hermione and Ron was next to Harry. They jostled and pushed each other and laughed silently. Caroline smiled. She slipped it into the frame. Now it felt a little more like home.

Caroline looked up again. She had moved and her friends had disappeared. But in their place were her mother and father. Caroline gasped and blinked. The image vanished. Caroline blinked back tears.

Then she went to get changed. She had a war to end and a country to fix. And she needed to have a long hard talk with the Prime Minister about who was really running Gower because as miserable as she might have felt before, this was where she belonged.

-The End-


End file.
